


AC19 Day 24: Hasard: Naisha

by The_Rose



Series: Rose's Advent Calendar 2019 [24]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Backstory, Bonus Chapter, F/M, Happen before the start of the story, There's little to no Illiev in it actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:27:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21937468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Rose/pseuds/The_Rose
Summary: The story of Naisha, Maiev's first and last apprentice.
Relationships: Maiev Shadowsong/Illidan Stormrage, Naisha & Maiev Shadowsong
Series: Rose's Advent Calendar 2019 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559185
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	AC19 Day 24: Hasard: Naisha

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I hope you will have a good celebration of what you will celebrate in this end of the year!
> 
> To finish the calendar, here's a little bonus chapter for Hasard that takes place between 5 and 10 years before the start of teh story (I still haven't pinpoint exactly when it happened but Maiev had been hunting for a few years but some time had to pass for the story to be able to start).
> 
> Well, I hope you'll enjoy !

“Come in,” said Velen after a few knocks could be heard on the door of his office.

Maiev quickly entered the room, a towel around her neck while her t-shirt was the proof of her intense training with sweat stain and around her waist, she was wearing a belt full of knives of different sizes and use. She stayed in front of the door as Velen was sitting at his desk like usual but this time, he wasn’t alone. A young girl was sitting in front of him, looking at Maiev.

“I was told you asked after me?” she said, afraid that she had interrupted something important.

“Indeed, I present to you Naisha,” he said, showing the girl. “Our newest rookie.”

Maiev smiled at her before going back to Velen, silently asking why she had been called.

“I know it would be new for you,” the demon started. “But I was thinking about making you her mentor.”

A quick flash of a smiling face and shaking hands went through Maiev’s mind and she frowned at the memory but quickly brushed it off.

“I don’t know if I could be a good mentor, I just tend to do things my way, Velen.”

“I know that, and this is why I think you could be a good mentor,” replied Velen, smiling at her. “But if you don’t feel like it, I’ll ask someone else.”

Maiev stayed silent as she thought about it. She had joined Velen’s hunters for a few years now and saw different Hunters coming and leaving, sometimes dying, but never has Velen asked her to mentor a new recruit, even if almost everyone was passing there. It had never bothered her before but now that she had the possibility, she wasn’t sure she was ready. And having someone with her constantly would probably force her to stop hunting the Betrayer for a while, as there was no way she would allow a potential victim near him. But her hunt of the Betrayer could still be done on the side or slightly delayed.

“I…I could try,” she finally said.

The young girl smiled widely and Velen simply nodded, happy that Maiev would finally be able to concentrate on something else than her relentless hunt of one demon. He also knew that if she was finding the right way to teach her skills to someone, they could have more great Hunters like her.

“Well, do you need a debrief on what to do or will you immediately start doing it your own way?” asked Velen with a chuckle.

“I’ll come back if I need help,” Maiev answered before looking back at the girl. “Naisha, right? Come with me, we’ll start right away.”

“Coming,” she said, getting out of the chair after thanking Velen.

She quickly joined Maiev at the door and the woman let her get out first. Once in the hallway, Maiev moved her hand in a way that was telling to follow her and she guided Naisha through the building.

“How old are you?” finally asked Maiev as they climbed the stairs to reach another floor.

“I’m seventeen.”

“And you finished school?” Maiev wondered, thinking that the girl was a little too young to join them, or that Velen broke his own rules for once.

“Oh yes, it’s just that I’ll be eighteen in December,” specified Naisha.

“Oh alright,” said Maiev as she opened a door to a training room. “And do you already have any experience in killing demons? Or just killing?”

“Actually no. I took a few self-defense lessons when I was younger but I’m not sure it would allow me to kill someone.”

“That’s already good. Believe me, defending yourself against the demons is the first step,” explained Maiev as she went through the closet of the room and took out a mail chain out of it. “We have no use in a Hunter that can kill but end up injured, or killed, while doing it. And no offense, but I probably won’t let you attack anything before a few weeks.”

“Understood,” replied Naisha, wondering what Maiev was doing with a chain mail.

“By the way, what convinced you to join us? Or at least to hunt demons?” Maiev kept asking, reaching the armor to Naisha. “Oh, and put it on you. It’s for the head, chest, arms, and hands.”

Naisha’s eyes got darker as she looked away, a painful expression on her face.

“It happened last year,” she said, playing with the mail in her hands. “I went out with friends at night to try a new night club but then…When we decided to go home…”

Maiev had no difficulties imagining what happened but still let the young girl say it out loud, knowing it would probably free her.

“We got attacked by two demons,” she finally said. “We had no ideas they existed until now. They attacked us and two of my friends died. The third was bleeding on the floor while I tried to run away but my legs were refusing to move. Thankfully, some Hunters were passing by and saved me and my third friend. Since, I decided that I wanted to kill demons.”

“I don’t remember this story…You aren’t from here?”

“No, I come from somewhere else. But every time I was passing in that street, I was paralyzed and unable to do anything so I talked with Califax and he told me about Velen and how it would probably be better for me to learn away from my hometown.”

“Oh Califax, been a while since I heard that name,” smiled Maiev. “No wonder he sent you here, he worked with us when I started here before moving away to lead a batch of Hunters.”

Naisha only nodded, finally putting on the small armor, wondering why she had to do that.

“And I’m sorry you had to find your vocation like that,” added Maiev. “I got a similar thing happening to me, but it was a demon that attacked my school. That day, we discovered that there was at least another demon amongst us, that outed themselves to fight that attacker, but alone, they couldn’t take them down as they were trying to protect us in the meantime. Finally, someone else had been able to stab the attacker in the back and kill it.”

Maiev had a sad smiled has she replayed the memories of that day in her mind. At least, it allowed her to meet Velen and realize that killing demons was, unfortunately, her path and that she would never escape her fate. But she wouldn’t join the hunters before three more years.

Naisha was finally protected by the chain mail and Maiev stepped back to look at her, questions all over the girl’s face. Maiev’s hands slowly walked on her belt, caressing every handle, knowing exactly which knife was under her fingers without even looking at them. She was one with her weapons and it was precisely what would be expected of Naisha by the end of her mentoring.

“Catch!” Shouted Maiev, throwing a knife so fast that Naisha had a hard time noticing it.

The tip of the knife hit against the chain mail, right where the heart was and then, fell on the ground and the metallic sound echoed through the room as the young girl still hadn’t processed what happened.

“Lesson number one,” began Maiev, taking another knife out of the belt and played with it. “You will need to find your best friend. Most of us are using blades, either something small and simple like a knife, or some even use sword, spear or anything that can damage those demons.”

“Does a gun work?” asked Naisha, half-laughing, half-serious.

“It’s useless in most cases. Most of the demons are magic wielders and would deviate the bullet, if not sending it back to you, with just a movement of their hands. You also don’t know how thick their skin is and with some demons, you could probably fire a gun right at their heart, with the gun on the skin, and the bullet wouldn’t go through.”

“Then why using blade if the skin can stop bullets?”

“Because they can’t be protected by thick skin everywhere and with a blade, you can allow yourself to find those weakest spots and cut through it. You can be more precise with a blade than a bullet. This is also why you have to know how to defend yourself because you will have to get dangerously close to a demon to kill it.”

Naisha quickly remembered how the knife that Maiev threw would have ended up right in her heart if she hadn’t been protected. If Maiev could teach her like that, she would probably end up being as deadly as her teacher.

“You also need to not fear your weapon, or any of them actually. So, I will keep throwing my knife at you and all you have to do is catch as much as you can. And don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.”

“I trust you,” honestly answered Naisha, putting herself in a defensive stance, ready to catch the knives.

Maiev simply smiled and began the lesson.

“Coffee? Chocolate? Tea? Water?” Maiev asked, the head in a cupboard, getting out the coffee for herself.

“Tea,” answered Naisha, out of breath, leaning on a chair.

Maiev put some water into the kettle and took two mugs, adding ground coffee in one and a teabag in the other. While the water was warming up, she dropped a little packet of snacks on the table.

“That wasn’t bad,” she told Naisha. “The more you’ll get used to manipulating weapons, the easier it’ll be for you to fight. We’re starting with knives because that’s what I’m mastering but if you prefer another kind of weapons, we’ll see if we know someone to help you with them.”

“I like knives for now,” she replied.

“Me too. You can transport so many of them because they’re small and they’re easy to hide.”

The kettle made a little sound, announcing that the water was now at the perfect temperature for a hot drink and Maiev went to it, pouring it into the two mugs and then, brought them at the table.

“By the way,” began Naisha. “How long should take my mentoring?”

Maiev took her mugs in her hands and leaned back on the chair, looking at the roof as she thought about it, mindlessly turning the spoon into the hot liquid.

“If I didn’t have to teach you how to fight and only have to show you how we work here, along with the city, it would probably only take about a month and a half, maybe two months. But here, as we’re starting from zero…It could take up to an entire year, depending on how fast you’ll learn.”

“That’s a lot a year…I hope it won’t take that much.”

“Oh, it’ll take as long as you need. We will never let someone who isn’t ready out to fight by themselves,” explained Maiev. “Even if to be honest, we already had a recruit finishing her mentoring in three weeks.”

“And you? How long did you have a mentor?” Naisha asked innocently.

Maiev brought the mug at her lips but stopped before taking a sip, her eyes darkening.

“Three weeks,” she muttered as she finally started to drink her coffee.

In her mind, she saw once again that flash. The body was hanging above the ground, lifeless, as a clawed hand was piercing through the neck, blood dripping on the pavement. The horned figure turned his head to look at her. She ran away.

Naisha didn’t say anything, feeling that it wasn’t a story for today and just took the teabag out of the mug and put some sugar in it before taking a sip. Maiev didn’t seem proud to have done her mentoring so quickly so the young girl decided to not ask any further question on the subject.

“You aren’t from the city, right?” Suddenly asked Maiev, back to reality. “So, I guess you’ll sleep here?”

“Mr. Velen told me that.”

Maiev hummed, still toying with her spoon in her coffee.

“The problem is, I don’t often come here, especially when I have to hunt as I have everything ready at my place…” she thought out loud. “At worst, you could move in my place the time of your mentoring but I’m afraid you’ll have to sleep on the couch.”

“It doesn’t bother me!” intervened Naisha, too happy to follow Maiev.

Maiev smiled at her and finished her coffee.

“One of the keys when you hunt, is how you dress,” explained Maiev, looking into her closet, taking out most of her hunting gear out. “You need to not only protect yourself but your identity as well. If a demon learns who you are in your everyday life, it’s over for you and it could also threaten all of us. This is really important and this is also why we are all using nicknames.”

“Like you being Warden, Sira being Dark, Califax is Keeper and Mr. Velen use Prophet, right?” asked Naisha, sitting on the bed as she was listening carefully to everything Maiev was telling her.

“Exactly. You’ll also have to choose your nickname before the end of the mentoring.”

“Can I be Mini Warden?” she laughed.

“For now, yes,” Maiev smiled. “But you’ll need to have a unique one later.”

“Taking notes!” Naisha said, literally doing it in a little notebook.

“And obviously,” resumed Maiev. “If we, Hunters, have nicknames to protect your civilian life, you can also expect the demons to do the same. The Betr –; The Sufferer; The Souleater; The Mute, to name a few.”

“But if we find their civilian identity…” Thought Naisha out loud, decided to not ask about the name she stopped in the middle. “We could kill them more easily.”

“Probably. But we don’t know how many demons really have a civilian identity and even then, they get magic on their side and can easily change their appearance. This is why it’s really important for us to protect our identity.”

With those words, she put her combat gear on the bed, showing it to Naisha so she would understand better how to protect herself with clothes.

“All of my clothes are padded in case a demon would try to claw through it. Sometimes, I have some leather under it if I know my prey could claw through the padding as if it was molten butter,” she explained, showing her the clothes. “To protect my heart, I got a Kevlar jacket. I add another jacket over it, not only to make sure that the Kevlar one is hidden, but also as a means to transport knives.”

“And it works?”

“Well, I’m still alive.”

“But for your identity?”

“Oh, simple,” she said, taking her mask in her hands. “Thanks to that, not only does it hide my mouth, but it also muffles my breath and changes a little my voice so it’s not easily recognizable. Then, I simply put some makeup to the rest of my face to look different and braid my hair instead of putting it as a ponytail.”

Naisha was quickly scribing it into her notebook, nothing all the pro and con of such equipment, knowing she’ll have to find her own if she wanted to become a real Hunter.

“As long as I’m wearing those, I can’t get killed,” proudly announced Maiev.

A few weeks had already passed since Maiev became the mentor of Naisha and the young girl was becoming better with her use of knives and, even if she had still not destroyed a single punching bag in the training room, she was becoming better and better at fighting in melee. Since, she also met every other Hunter living in the city, helping Velen and slowly, she felt like she was already part of the family that had been created.

One night, Maiev even decided that she was now competent enough to follow her into a hunt. She dressed up with the chain mail that Maiev used on her very first day and then, put over padded clothes, following Maiev’s example and then, Maiev let her took a few knives from her collection to use in case of a fight. Then, she helped Naisha to disguise her face and soon enough, they were out of Maiev’s flat and ready to hunt.

The city was calm and they kept patrolling, looking everywhere as the streets were empty from any life. The politicians were probably some of the best they could have gotten as they were aware of the dangerous demons running wild at night and they succeeded to make laws that would not only help the Hunters to hunt in peace but also to keep the simple humans in the dark, and out of the streets at night. Even the buildings had to be constructed following rules helping to keep the secret, like making sure no sound coming from outside could be heard. They really had no reason to complain about the politicians of the city.

But for the displeasure of the Hunters, most of the time they would fight demons coming from somewhere else, often in search of an easy victim because they had been either been chased from their hometown or that the Hunters there almost killed them. So, they would travel to another city, kill a few peoples if it was what they wanted, and then either settle in the city or leave for another one, repeating their little ritual. And Maiev was there to either convince them to not stay in the city, or directly kill them so they wouldn’t threaten anyone.

They patrolled all night, until the sun began to rise in the horizon and Maiev decided that it was time to go back to her place, not knowing if she was disappointed that she couldn’t test Naisha or if she was relieved that they hadn’t had to face any demons. Especially one that she hadn’t seen in weeks. His absence was weird but she had something else to concentrate on.

“Better luck tomorrow,” she told Naisha once they entered the flat, already getting most of her gear off. “But it’s our life. Sometimes we patrol all night for nothing but believe me, it would be worst to not have patrolled all night and let someone get killed than doing it for nothing.”

“I understand,” yawned Naisha, exhausted not only as she stayed up all night, but also from the adrenaline that they could have met a demon.

The young girl quickly crashed on the couch, not even getting rid of her clothes and Maiev smiled. She wasn’t regretting at all to have accepted the mentoring in the end.

“Now!” Shouted Maiev, restraining the demon that was struggling in her arms.

Naisha took a knife in her hand and put her arm backward, ready to throw it on the demon, thankfully reaching the heart, but before she could do anything, the demons changed into a human form, showing them the appearance of a young woman.

“Please don’t kill me!” she cried. “I was just passing by! I didn’t do anything!”

Naisha’s arms began to shake and she looked at Maiev, still restraining the demon, not knowing what to do anymore. But Maiev kept restraining the demon, putting more strength in it until the demon cried harder and asked her to stop.

“I could have given you the benefit of doubt,” said Maiev, smiling ferociously. “After all it happens often that we find a demon trying to help a human that had been attacked. But no luck for you, I saw you attacking that poor boy.”

The demon immediately stopped crying and muttered the word “fuck”, getting heard by both Maiev and Naisha, outing herself as the culprit.

“Mini!” Maiev shouted at Naisha. “When you want!”

Now that she knew the demon was guilty, and that she even tried to lie to them to leave the place alive, Naisha knew she couldn’t hesitate any more and she threw the knife. The demon barely had the time to transform back to protect herself that the knife hit her chest, not exactly in the heart, but close enough to kill the demon.

“Good job, Mini,” Maiev smiled, finally letting the demon fall on the ground.

“Thanks, Warden,” Naisha replied, not really knowing if she was proud of her first kill or not.

Maiev quickly searched for the demon’s wallet and put it in her jacket and then grabbed the body and quickly dragged it to the nearest bin, thankfully only a few feet away. On the way, Maiev saw the young boy, unconscious and bleeding on the floor. The demon had attacked him as he was passing near one of the bins, probably to take care of the body and not let anyone know she killed. A sign that she was probably some serial killer. Maiev threw her body inside the container and then, ran to the boy, checking on his vital signs but Naisha was already next to it, doing it.

“Still alive,” she told Maiev.

“Let’s not lose time,” she said, grabbing the boy in her arms. “Let’s go directly to the emergency, it’s his best chance.”

They ran through the city until they reached the main hospital. Knowing that regular humans might be into the usual emergency room, Maiev decided to take the second entrance, the hidden one, reserved for the demons and anyone having to keep the secret intact. She burst into it and immediately pushed the alert button on the wall, letting the doctors and nurses know that someone was needing help and that they had to be discreet. They quickly ran into the room and Maiev explained in a few words what happened and they took the boy with them.

He would end up living.

“To Naisha’s tenth kills,” proudly said Velen, holding up his glass as everyone in the room followed him.

Blushing, the young girl muttered a “thank you” and quickly brought her glass to her lips. She had never expected to be celebrated to kill but here she was, almost a member of that weird family of demon hunters, and she was liking it. Maiev approached her and hugged her and Naisha quickly hugged her back.

“Thank you for everything,” Naisha told her.

“No problems,” Maiev replied, her hand brushing Naisha’s hair on top of her head. “Soon, you’ll be a Hunter by yourself and won’t need me anymore.”

“Don’t tell that,” she laughed. “It sounds like you are going to die.”

This time, it was Maiev who laughed out loud.

“I’m not going to die anytime soon,” she comforted her. “And even if it happens, can I count on you to avenge me?”

“Of course,” kept laughing Naisha at this impossible scenario.

“Come on,” said Sira as she got closer. “Stop talking about death and let’s celebrate the success of our rookie!”

“Well said,” replied Maiev.

And the little party went on.

The rain was heavily falling on the city. It was so intense that it was almost impossible to see through it and even the local tv had warned the citizen that going out of their houses wasn’t recommended at all. But Maiev became afraid that she would have no other choice but to disobey it.

On the couch, Naisha was feeling really bad. Her forehead was burning and she had a hard time to talk. Her throat was sore and when she would cough, Maiev could hear how much it was hurting. She was also having a hard time keeping her eyes open and Maiev was losing hope. With the weather, no doctor would accept to travel to her place and she wasn’t even sure she had the medicine to keep her alive until the rain would stop. She took back the thermometer and only got the confirmation that Naisha was having a really high fever and she sighed as she looked once again at the windows, not even able to see the building in front of her through the rain.

She had to make a choice right now.

“Alright, we’re going to the hospital,” she finally decided.

“But the rain?” Naisha asked in a whisper, half of the word not even being said.

“I’m sorry but you need to see a doctor right now. We can’t wait for the rain to calm down.”

With those words, Maiev went into her room and took out her combat gear from her closet, bringing them back to the living room.

“Put them on, they are thick enough so the rain won’t go through and soak you.”

“But you?”

It was only two words and Naisha hadn’t even been able to say the last one before coughing a lung out, almost ripping off her throat in the process. But Maiev perfectly knew what she meant.

“I’ll be alright.”

She helped the young girl to put the clothes on and then, dropped a coat over her head to protect it while Maiev only took a thin coat, decided that Naisha was the priority. Bracing herself, Maiev let Naisha leave the flat first and she locked it before reaching the ground floor. She was barely in front of the main door that they could hear the rain thundering outside but they had to leave. Maiev grabbed Naisha around the shoulders, knowing the girl wouldn’t be able to walk all to the hospital by herself and they left the building.

Maiev was already soaked wet and Naisha was shaking from the cold, of not only her fever but also from the rain, in her arms but Maiev didn’t stop. The more time they were taking to reach the hospital, the more Maiev was afraid to make a mistake and she even thought for a moment to carry Naisha. But she barely got the possibility to do it that something bumped against them. Maiev fell on the ground and didn’t feel Naisha against her anymore. Quickly, she jumped on her feet and tried to see her apprentice but the rain was so heavy that she couldn’t see anything.

“Naisha!” she screamed; her voice covered by the rain. “Naisha!”

She ran around, desperate to find the girl, screaming her lungs out. She had no idea what bumped into her and was almost willing to think it was only the wind but a little voice was telling her to run and find Naisha as fast as she could. She finally saw a stain on the ground and Maiev grabbed it, realizing it was the coat she gave to the girl before leaving. As she raised her head, she saw two other stains in front of her. One purplish, crouching over a dark one and Maiev’s heart missed a beat as the first one was clearly a demon. Without waiting anymore, she took a knife out of her jacket and jumped on the demon, screaming. He put his arms in front of him and she cut through them, not caring about anything else until the demon jumped back and took flight, his blood coloring the ground.

Maiev had a hard time breathing as she watched it leave her sight and then, as if she had been shocked, she quickly ran to the silhouette laying on the ground and with horror, discovered Naisha, barely breathing. Her face was covered in cuts, as if the demon had dragged her by it and even her throat was covered by those cuts and she was slowly emptying herself from her blood on the ground. Desperate, Maiev took her in her arms and ran to the hospital.

When she burst through the emergency room, not even thinking about going through the second entrance, the nurses immediately went to her and put Naisha on a bed, ready to send her to the doctor. They tried to ask what was happening to Maiev but she was unable to talk as she watched the young girl being sent into the Emergency. A nurse approached Maiev and gave her a little pill to calm her, along with a towel as she was not only soaked, but that she was also covered in blood. As she couldn’t do anything else, Maiev let them guide her to a chair and she sat.

Not even thirty minutes after she ran into the hospital, a doctor came to see her.

“Miss…I’m sorry to have to tell you that but…The girl you brought in didn’t make it. We’re really sorry we couldn’t save her life. It was too late.”

Tears began to roll down Maiev’s cheeks but she didn’t say a thing, only nodded to tell the doctor she heard him and then, curled on herself and cried harder.

She had failed to protect her.

A little further away, in the same hospital, Malfurion sighed as Illidan hissed once again, trying to get his arms away from his brother.

“I need to disinfect those cuts Illidan, stay calm please.”

“You could have chosen one that isn’t hurting that much,” he growled.

Malfurion sighed louder but kept going with the alcohol.

“What did you do this time to get hurt like that?” he finally wondered after his brother burst into the emergency room for demons, asking after his brother, bleeding from both of his arms.

Illidan laughed out loud, almost maniacally.

“I finally killed the Warden! Those cuts were made by a Hunter that was accompanying her but I recognized her by her clothes. I’m finally free!”

“Good for you,” simply replied Malfurion, not knowing if he had to happy or not.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it !
> 
> And this conclude the Advent Calendar of 2019. See you next year for a new one and don't hesitate to tell me all through the year if you want some story be expended or having bonus chapter. I'll take note of everything. 
> 
> Otherwise, see you in February for the beginning if weekly update for three months! We'll take back Hasard, Travel and a few one-shot ^^
> 
> Have a nice holidays!
> 
> \----  
> If you just want to talk about WoW, my fics, someone else fics or anything, you can still hit me up on Tumblr!
> 
> https://thewritingof-therose.tumblr.com/
> 
> or on Discord
> 
> The_Rose#2429 (My personal one)  
> https://discord.gg/nvKggwc (An Illidan/Maiev Discord. Everyone welcome here! (Please tell me if the link doesn't work))
> 
> Later!


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